Wranglers rally falls short in shootout loss to Laval
Down 2-0, Calgary rallied behind Martin Frk’s two power play goals, but fell 4-3 in a shootout despite 42 saves from Arsenii Sergeev.
Photo by David Moll / Calgary Wranglers
LAVAL, QC — The Calgary Wranglers erased a two-goal deficit but fell 4-3 in a shootout to the Laval Rocket on Saturday afternoon.
Laval opened the scoring at 11:23 of the first period, as Joshua Roy finished a play from Marc Del Gaizo and Nate Clurman.
Early in the second, Florian Xhekaj extended the lead to 2-0 at 2:01, with assists from William Trudeau and Filip Mesar.
Calgary responded on the power play at 10:09, as Rory Kerins got the Wranglers on the board, finishing a setup from Martin Frk and Justin Kirkland.
In the third period, Frk took over.
At 1:11, Martin Frk buried a power play goal off feeds from Kerins and Dryden Hunt to tie the game 2-2.
Laval answered at 7:21, as Del Gaizo restored the lead with a power play goal, assisted by Owen Beck and Jared Davidson.
Calgary responded once again late.
At 18:17, Frk struck for his second of the period on the power play, finishing another sequence with Kerins and Hunt to force overtime at 3-3.
The extra frame delivered high drama, with Calgary killing off a penalty and surviving a penalty shot to extend the game.
In the shootout, Xhekaj scored the deciding goal to lift Laval to the win.
Arsenii Sergeev was outstanding, stopping 42 of 45 shots for a .933 save percentage, including key stops in overtime.
Calgary’s power play drove the comeback, converting 3-for-6, while Laval finished 1-for-7.
Kerins (1G, 2A) and Frk (2G, 1A) each recorded three-point nights.
The Wranglers return home for their final regular season games at the Scotiabank Saddledome next Friday and Saturday.